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UNIT 4
CRITICALLY REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
The aims of this unit:
• to make you think about the importance and purpose of the critical literature review;
• to give you information on what you need to include when writing your critical review;
• to get you acquainted with a variety of literature sources;
• to help you evaluate the relevance and sufficiency of the literature found;
• to provide practice in referencing the literature found accurately.
FOCUS ON INFORMATION
1 Skim the text about critical literature review. Find an appropriate heading for each paragraph.
a. planning the literature search
b. definition of critical literature review
c. evaluating the literature found
d. what is meant by critical
e. the purpose of the critical review
f. the structure of the critical review
g. the content of the critical review
h. literature sources
1. Knowledge doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and your work only has value in relation to other people’s. Your work
and your findings will be significant only to the extent that they’re the same as, or different from, other people’s work
and findings.
You therefore need to establish what research has been published in your chosen area and try to identify any other
research that might currently be in progress. The items you read and write about will enhance your subject knowledge
and help you to clarify your research question(s) further. This process is called critically reviewing the literature.
2. Your critical literature review will form the foundation on which your research is built. Its main purpose is to
help you to develop a good understanding and insight into relevant previous research and the trends that have emerged.
Your review also has a number of other purposes:
• to help you to refine further your research question(s) and objectives;
• to highlight research possibilities that have been overlooked implicitly in research to data;
• to discover explicit recommendations for further research. These can provide you with a superb justification
for your own research question(s) and objectives;
• to help you to avoid simply repeating work that has been done already;
• to sample current opinions in newspapers, professional journals, thereby gaining insights into the aspects of
your research question(s) and objectives that are considered newsworthy;
• to discover and provide an insight into research approaches, strategies and techniques that may be appropriate
to your own research question(s) and objectives.
3. As you begin to find, read and evaluate the literature, you will need to think how to combine the academic theo-
ries and ideas it contains to form the critical review that will appear in your project report. This will need to discuss
critically the work that has already been undertaken in your area of research, and reference that work. It will draw out
the key points and trends and present them in a logical way. In doing this you will provide readers of your project report
with the necessary background knowledge to your research question(s) and objectives and establish the boundaries of
your own research. It will also enable the readers to see your ideas against the background of previous published re-
search in the area. This does not necessarily mean that your ideas must extend, follow or approve those set out in the
literature. You may be highly critical of the earlier research and seek to discredit it. However, if you wish to do this you
must still review the literature, argue clearly why it is problematic, and then justify your own ideas.
In writing your critical review you will therefore need:
• to include the key academic theories within your chosen area;
• to demonstrate that your knowledge of your chosen area is up to date;
• to show how your research relates to previous published research;
• to assess the strengths and weaknesses of previous work and take these into account in your arguments;
• to justify your arguments by referencing previous research;
• through clear referencing, to enable those reading your research report to find the original work you cite.
4. Within the context of reviewing the literature, the term ‘critical’ refers to the judgement you exercise. It there-
fore describes the process of providing a detailed and justified analysis of and commentary on the merits and faults of
the key literature within your chosen area. This means that, for your review to be critical, you should:
• refer to work by recognized experts in your chosen area;
• consider and discuss work that supports and work that opposes your ideas;
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